Frugality is the new trendy?
Reading articles on declining consumer spending and increasing saving rates (and watching new words such recessionista, frugalista, and cheap-chic enter the lexicon) has made me wonder: has frugality gotten too trendy? And, will it stick?
Frugality isn’t an issue I write on, because I’ve never claimed to be frugal – I try to save and invest, yes, but I certainly have my moments. Exhibit A: $200 worth of wool gabardine from J.Crew today (if you follow me on Twitter, you would’ve seen step-by-step how the consumer pummeled the pf blogger in me.)
As an example of some recent coverage of the new return to thrift, Friday’s New York Times article is titled: “In an Age of Austerity, the Miserly Thrive”
I cringed a little at the word “miserly”. A miserly person is someone who’s cheapness is inconsiderate and inconvenient to others. Miserliness is not a quality to aspire to in any economic situation. But I see how the title “In an Age of Austerity, the Financially Responsible Thrive” might not have the same ring to it.
Then NYT used this example of an enterprising nurse who took home a duvet off the street.
“My behavior has become less strange and more of a resource,” said Katy Wolk-Stanley, 41, a nurse in Portland, Ore. A practicing penny-pincher for the last decade, she is now spreading her gospel. Last May, she started a blog with tips and tactics for cutting back called The Non-Consumer Advocate.
She knows whereof she blogs. She darns socks, dries clothes on a line she recently hung inside her house (even though it takes a few days for the clothes to dry inside), washes and reuses plastic bags and takes used clothes and furniture people leave on the street — like the slightly torn Garnet Hill duvet cover she found recently.
“It was wet, and covered with dog hair,” she said. “I washed it really well a couple of times and mended it.” Her quest for money-saving ideas “is very energizing,” she says. “You see opportunities everywhere.”
I’m glad she was handy enough to take the duvet (it’s also great for the environment – one less duvet in the landfills). But I’d feel uncomfortable using a duvet I found off the street, “wet and covered with dog hairs.” The ick factor would be too great for me to overcome (curiously, I have no problem buying clothes from thrift stores). I’ll settle for my duvet set from IKEA (bought it during one of their one-day sales for $20).
I guess this confirms what I already know: I’m just not that frugal, I like my creature comforts, and I’m willing to pay for them (although I am willing to pay LESS for them in this uncertain economic climate).
Will Frugality Stick?
As far as will frugality stick? People will always want things (or experiences). That requires money. Real estate in desirable areas such as San Francisco, Manhattan, and Los Angeles will always be pricey. Conspicuous consumption has gone out of style – for now – but who knows?
In 10 or 20 years, if things are good again or we have another bubble – will New York Times be writing about fishing discarded bedding off the streets and washing plastic bags? Will a consultant skip her $4 morning latte at Starbucks? Will the middle-class professional woman be so eager to disclose that she got her holiday dress at Goodwill instead of Neiman Marcus? Will she even go to Goodwill?
As deep and as hurtful as The Great Recession is, can it truly, permanently reprogram us as a culture of frugality? I’m hesitant to say yes. We had a huge, wild party that went too long. Now comes the hangover and the recriminations. But after a while, after we feel a little better, after we promise to never let things get so out of control, we’ll raise a glass (or two, or three) again.
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Frugality won’t stick because as Frank Zappa says, “people like to own stuff”. And new stuff. And better than the stuff they had.
I think it could stick.
Personally, the economy has caused me to really budget my expenses, set goals for myself and re-examine the way I spend my paychecks.
And I don’t think that will change when the economy bounces back. Once people realize how much they can save by being frugal or, at the very least budgeting for expenses and the unexpected, they’ll stick to it.
As Dave said, people do want new stuff. But who’s going to buy a coffee table in an expensive furniture store once they realize they can find bargains on Craigslist or the neighborhood yard sale?
I think the really frugal people will be frugal no matter what (it takes a special kind of person to take a wet, dog-hairy duvet off the street– that’s not gonna change with the economy), but those of us who are learning to be frugal might go back to something resembling our old ways. We won’t be as reckless, I don’t think, but we’ll be so relieved that things are going better for us that we’ll let ourselves splurge on that new couch. And then we’ll need a rug to go with the new couch, and since we’ve gone without for so long, we deserve a new rug! And maybe a new lamp and some throw pillows… etc etc etc. It’s not a bad thing, if you work for your money and spend it when you have it to spend.
That’s what I really like about your blog– I could never see myself living on $800/year for food, but I can definitely do what you do. You show that it’s ok to buy things you need/want once in awhile as long as you’re saving for the future and really thinking about what you buy.
I hope it sticks. For too long we’ve spent more than we make, racked up debt and now we are paying for it. While I don’t see people staying as frugal as some of the people featured in the recent NY Times article, I do hope that people learn to live within their means. They might find they have more time and less stress living frugally. I’d rather have time than money most days.
Hmmm….honestly, I don’t think it is going to stick in the US. Unless there is a MAJOR shift, and I don’t think this recession is it. Back in the day, after WWI and WWII, and The Great Depression, people had no choice but to be frugal. Money was worth nothing due to inflation. That loaf of bread that a family could buy three days ago? Add 3 zeroes to it and they can’t eat anymore. Not to forget, there weren’t as many luxury labels around back then, if any. It all seemed so utilitarian. The older generation that had to grow up in such times, are still frugal. And if you read the majority of the articles, they kind of scoff when talking about this recession, as they’ve seen worse. Money is like a wave. It comes and goes. You take advantage of it when it’s plentiful (by saving, investing and responsible spending), and you make do with your resources (savings, etc) when your funds are low. If you look at Europe, they were affected more during both World Wars, and this had a long lasting effect on their spending habits. All my European friends and family (give or take a few) would never, ever even consider paying only the minimum on their credit card. They pay it all off, or don’t even use the credit card to begin with. They look at my family and I and say that we have ‘American spending habits’. Well, maybe we do, but my family can afford it. It’s a psychological thing. I grew up with this impression of Americans (it has somewhat changed by now though, and this was before I even set foot in the US): they spend spend and spend. They start businesses, they make lots of money. Then they fail. They go into debt, and just declare bankcrupty, live in a trailer /poverty for a bit, and start all over again. Because they are a resilient bunch. And the cycle continues. And I can guarantee you, i’m not the only non-American that thinks, or used to think that way.
I think people will become more responsible, but as this passes, they’ll think back and say: well, we survived that recession with minimal savings and lots of debt, no big deal.
Sorry for the novel-length reply!
And that lady with the duvet – all I can say is ick, and that is just no way to live life. Maybe it was a hundred years ago, when you’re out on the prairie, but not these days.
I feel like my parents are always frugal and they instilled it in me. Some people are all always going to spend money, but I guess if they have money good for them.
In response to he ick-factor duvet cover — Yes, it was wet and covered in dog hair, but I recognized that it was a nice, high quality item. I threw it in the back of the car, (which has a plastic liner) and immediately put it through the wash twice.
Also, the wet was from rain, not some mystery fluid.
I already had an extra down comforter that had been downgraded due to shifty issues, so the work of a few minutes mending and washing brought a great flannel comforter which can be used when my kids have sleepovers, and we need extra bedding. (We set the thermostat at 57 degrees at night, so we need warm blankets.)
Katy Wolk-Stanley
The Non-Consumer Advocate
“Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without.”
I just explored this issue today for me on my blog so was really excited to see it on yours. It is getting almost too trendy and although there are aspects that have been beneficial (the sales! the influx of free stuff!) I think that I personally need to make a more fundamental shift in order to embrace aspects of being frugal but not compromise my comforts and have this be a trendy phase or a temporary obsession in my life.
I’m trying to think of new ways to learn from the credit crisis instead of just rushing out and waiting for lending to spark up again and house prices to bottom out in London so I can bad a good first time home bargain (although naturally I want that too).
SNS
Frugality is more of a personal character. Some people will always be like that( I mean they would like to spend few and save more) and then there are few who’ll always spend what ever they have. In really tough times like this, those who save more(the frugals) will be saving a bit more that they used to save…while those who like to spend, 70-80% will be spending as usual untill they have nothing to spend. There will be few who might stop spending and start saving, but proportion will be really less.
Its more of a habit and character, something one has always lived like. It won’t change in most of the cases.
I don’t think it will stick either, really. There are some people who will keep saving, and be cheaper than the rest of us, but as a population we are very “stuff oriented”.
Personally? I don’t think that I would go so far as to dig a duvet out of the trash … but I do like to challenge myself to live frugally.
Maybe I’m being cynical, but I agree that it won’t stick. Maybe for a few years, but not for 10 or 20 years when things are more stable.
A lot of people are currently in a holding pattern, saving money for now “just in case” until someone gives the all clear. While I don’t think lending will ever be the free for all that it was in the past, I do think people will go back to their spending and acquiring stuff. People like stuff, and its hard to break the tie that people feel between stuff, spending, and happiness.
I don’t think it will stick too.
But, I think there will be a small percentage of people that would have learnt a very painful lesson from this crisis and change their overspending way and adopt a ‘live within their means’ lifestyle.
Frugality absolutely will not stick. If that same woman who got her duvet of the street (EW!!!) won the lottery tomorrow, she’d be on Oprah talking about how she USED to be frugal.
I also think being miserly is a horrible way to live and those extreme cases of frugality covered in the NYT are really just cheap people.
I’m frugal, but I’ll be damned if I use someone else’s old duvet. I would just keep thinking I wonder why they threw it away.
Sorry, I can’t get over this duvet business, it’s sickening.
I am definitely part of that enabling team on Twitter.
I feel good about it. That dress was hot! And a deal!
And frugality will not stick. Not if it’s extreme.
That duvet thing is too whack.
And that duvet cover is covered with bacteria inside right?
I dunno. Ugh..
That drying rack is a good idea.
But to get bargains on Craigslist someone must’ve first bought it at a furniture store…
I understand what you’re saying – I don’t think there will be an instant bounce back in the next several years. And I think people will learn to be (by necessity) more financially responsible (no more negative saving rates). But I guess over the longer term I just think consumerism won’t be as ‘out of fashion’ as a lot of magazines / news is making it out to be.